Man and woman sentenced to 18 months in jail for locking young boy in bedroom of London home for two years

The words of a lost little boy, imprisoned in a filthy room and virtually ignored by his aunt and uncle, were what moved the judge the most.

The boy, now 12, born in Korea, and locked up in squalor for at least two years of his young life, wrote with joy after he was discovered about being able to go outside, go to the store and library and play games with friends — simple pleasures taken for granted by most children.

He wrote that he’s happy.

“This speaks volumes to the court the impact it had on him,” said Ontario Court Justice John Skowronski about the case of neglect and confinement that shocked the city when the boy was discovered in May 2014.

“Just to be a child again . . . moved him to point out the simple things.”

And, for the judge, “the egregious breach of trust on a young child” meant the simple answer was to send the boy’s captors to jail.

On Wednesday, Skowronski sent the boy’s aunt, 51, and uncle, 45, a Korean couple who couldn’t cope when they were losing their livelihood, to serve 18 months behind bars for failing to provide the necessaries of life — a case he called “vexing, troubling and unexplainable.”

The couple, both neatly dressed and quiet, can’t be named to protect the boy’s identity. They kept their heads bowed during the sentencing. The woman cried and covered her face with her hands before she was led away.

The couple, capable of caring for their own nine-year-old daughter, locked up their unwanted nephew like a caged animal, throwing him a bit of food and leaving him to fend for himself alone inside four walls.

At their sentencing hearing earlier this year, both the Crown and the defence had suggested jail terms under two years. The only question left to be answered by Skowronski was if he would allow them to serve their time under house arrest and in the community.

After weighing that option and the background of the hard-working couple who fell on tough times, he concluded that “this egregious breach of trust on a young child” deserved real jail.

“I don’t believe that we will ever see you in the courts again,” he said to the couple.

“But I hope you understand why this message had to be so strong.”

Skowronski said the community needs to know that these acts would be met with “serious consequences.”

The boy was discovered on May 29, 2014, when he was just 10, at the southeast London home, shocking the community that one so young could be so neglected. Child welfare workers and the police were investigating a report that a girl was being left alone all day. When they rang the doorbell, no one answered.

The couple were contacted and they told the police their daughter was in school. They tried unsuccessfully to delay the police entering the home so they could clean it up.

The police were eventually allowed inside. The aunt ran upstairs ahead of them yelling in Korean.

An officer found the boy in the filthy master bedroom behind a door locked from the outside. His hair was long, he was small and thin, his skin was scaly and he was wearing urine-soaked pyjamas, according to an agreed statement of facts that were reviewed by Skowronski during sentencing.

The room had two beds with urine-soaked sheets and fast-food bags and containers all over the floor. Dark hair covered the beds, that either fell out of the boy’s head because of malnutrition or he pulled out himself in despair.

The ensuite bathroom hadn’t been cleaned in months and the toilet was filled with urine and feces.

The rest of the house was cluttered, and the kitchen was especially dirty with soiled dishes on the counter and the floor covered in garbage.

Skowronski called the conditions “deplorable.”

“The level of cleanliness and hygiene was minimal to non-existent,” he said. The boy hadn’t had a shower for a year.

The boy had been brought to Canada in 2010 by his grandparents. His mother was dead and his father, the aunt’s brother, was unable to look after him.

The couple had been in Canada for some time and had tried a couple of businesses that failed. Their variety store closed in 2012.

Once the business was gone, the uncle took a delivery job with his wife and daughter accompanying him. The boy was left in the house.

And that’s where he was for two years. His aunt would bring him food, but never said a word. He would always say thank you.

He was never taken to a doctor or dentist and never attended school. His cousin told police that she didn’t know the boy’s name until the officers told her.

The aunt claimed the boy was difficult to control, but once he was in foster care, he thrived. He was described as kind, funny and very smart. He is excelling in school and hopes to be adopted so he can stay in Canada.

When he was found, the boy spoke rudimentary Korean and had no idea how long he’s been alone. He wrote about being jealous that he couldn’t go outside, that he was “nervous, confused, sad and lonely.”

When the doorbell would ring, he would hide under the covers.

The couple, who are faithful church-goers, deemed a low risk to reoffend, sent a letter of apology saying they wished him the best and “want him to be a person full of smiles.” They had many letters of support, including one from the woman’s son from a previous abusive relationship.

Since the boy’s discovery, the couple have cleaned up their home and had visits with their daughter, who is in foster care.

But Skowronski said the couple should have been “the very people (the boy) should have looked for trust and protection.

“This is abuse at the hands of what one would hope be his protectors,” he said.

The couple also must serve two years of probation after completing their jail term.

Outside of court, defence lawyer Damon Hardy said that though he was disappointed, he wasn’t surprised the couple was sent to jail. “They knew this day was coming. They were prepared for this day...to start paying back their debt.”

A woman who has married the boy’s father since the child’s discovery and is living with him in London said the boy is now part of a custody battle. “He wants to get his boy back,” she said.

The boy wants to be “a Canadian boy” and doesn’t want to be part of the Korean community. The father, who the woman agreed has a criminal record in Korea, has seen the boy for only 10 minutes since his first visit to Canada two years ago.